The Marvin Lewis Community Fund sponsored Learning is Cool. Cincinnati Public School students who were on the “A” honor role twice were invited to an evening at the zoo, and receive a medal, given by members of a local sports team. Once again, my daughter was on the “A” honor role four times. Of course we would go to the zoo!

John the lion has a new pal, Imani.

She’s pretty!

John must think so, too, as he’s trying to look his best.

They do make a cute couple.

Nearby cheetahs were looking like bookends. No runs were scheduled that evening.

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I took the day after TOSRV as PTO. My wife had the afternoon off, and after lunch, we decided to pop into the Cincinnati Zoo. It was very spontaneous–I didn’t have my DSLR, but I had my iPhone. The perfect camera is the one you have with you.

Why? Why to see Nasha, of course.

Nasha is a baby giraffe born on April 28. Here she is with her mom, Tessa, and an “aunt.”

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The Cincinnati Zoo made a couple of announcements since my last visit, neither of which involved cats. It was, however, for two of my favorite non-felids animals. We had a gorgeous day, so I decided to go check it out.

I confess I haven’t watched too many rhinos interacting with people. This time, I was there when her keepers were having a session with her. It was clear that she had an interest–even a fondness–for her people. It was quite cute.

The keepers train the animals behaviors that will help them in the animal’s care. In this case, Seyia has learned how to present her foot for examination.

Of course I stopped by the cats! Techumseh the cougar was being active.

They fed the caracal while I was there. I remind myself that, in the wild, small birds are commonly their prey. Today, they gave her a chick. It wasn’t alive, but a bit odd to see. I’m not posting the picture here, but I did link to the picture.

Renji and Nubo, the snow leopards, were relaxed. Nubo did raise his head to say “hi.”

The tigers were even more relaxed, melting into a puddle. Not the tongue.

*Louisiana girls are cute, but I do find myself partial to women from the Midwest. :)

Santos, the ocelot cub (“ocelittle”) at the Cincinnati Zoo is about the size of Eddy when I first met him. I have to remind myself that he was only two weeks old, and will sleep a lot more than he plays. I decided to check on him today, at the three-week mark. He was still a sleepily little boy.

Love the chin!

But he did start to wake up a bit. I got to see his eyes!

Clearly, he’s more capable. I got to see him walk around a bit…

And even play with a keeper, and the plush animals in his enclosure.

That tickles!

I was a bit crazy going out to the zoo–the temperature never saw above thirty. I stopped into Night Hunters, in part to warm up. A black footed cat was in plain sight.

And a sand cat fell asleep on top of his hill.

The bobcat looked like he had some news for me…

Miss Caracal was back!

I hadn’t seen her since at least the spring. I don’t know where she was, but I was getting a bit worried. It was really good to see her again!

While humans weren’t fond of the cold day, snow leopards live for it. Renji and Nubo were up front, and happy to have a chat.

Nubo was a bit of a show-off.

Renji maintained her mysterious composure.

While there are plenty of unusual animals in the official collection, there are “wild” animals that pass through. The problems squirrels were causing made news lately. Today, I saw a domesticated cat, probably a stray, on the grounds.

I had mentioned I didn’t get to see puffins too often. My wife pointed out the Cincinnati Zoo had them, we just don’t go in the exhibit that often. I was passing it, it looked warm, so I popped in.

I also got a family picture of all three red pandas!

While cold, it was a good day to see the zoo, and I am glad to see little Santos growing up.

The Indian rhinoceros, however was not only out, but playing with some bamboo. Rhinos are among my favorite zoo animals (outside of felids, of course).

Coincidentally, Saturday (the twenty-first) was International Red Panda Day, another favorite zoo animal (outside of felids, of course).

The Bactrian camel really doesn’t care what day it is.

A takin is goat-antelope, native to Himalayas. They are regarded as a vulnerable species.

We went to check out Woodstock, a manatee.

He did rolls near Betsy, another manatee.

Prom season is in the spring, isn’t it?

We went to go say “hi” to Renji and Nubo. When we walked up, it almost seemed like there was only one snow leopard out.

But, it became apparent that they were both in there (Nubo is on the right).

Heart-shaped snow leopards!

The pallas kittens are still hanging around–one up on some rocks; another was down low. He wanted to go up to see his pal.

So he jumped!

It was quite impressive!

It is sometimes hard to imagine these little pallas kittens are smaller than adult black-footed cats.

The sand cat was dozing–love how his paws were arranged.

We haven’t seen the caracal all summer–I’ve been worried. She wasn’t there this visit, but we did see scat in her enclosure. This made me feel a little comforted.

Ever since they remodeled the Cat House into Night Hunters, it’s been very difficult to get a good picture of the fishing cat. Usually, it takes pulling every light-gathering tick I have, manual focussing, and anticipating where she’s walking. Today, she was still, and I pulled out my 50mm f/1.8 for the first time in a while. And, got a really good shot.

It was a great afternoon to spend learning and supporting one of the great animal treasures of this world.